Among an Army of Flies
by VioletIsabelleLovett
Summary: My name is Captain Petral Levark of the Task Force 141. Death is only part of my job, however, I was not prepared for when the dead begin walking again. Or when I learned that I would be responsible for finding the roots of the supposed "walking dead", and expected to put an end to a plan that already took root years and years ago...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: For those of familiar with my previous story, "MW3: One Girl, Four Men" this is technically a sequel. If not, this CAN still be read alone. Either way, please enjoy! Feedback is always appreciated! ~VIL**

PROLOGUE: Green Run (Through the POV of Jacob Oslin, age 16)

There was a cold, hard surface beneath me. In fact, the entire room was freezing cold. I opened my eyes groggily, the colors of the dark room slowly coming into focus. I was staring up at a high, wooden ceiling, and laying on a rough, wooden floor. I hesitantly pulled myself to my feet, alarmed at the unfamiliar surroundings. Still groggy, it took me a second to register where I was.

What the hell? This wasn't my room, or my house...

I looked around, and nearly jumped when I saw my surroundings. There were about fifteen or so other people in the room, about the same age as me. Some of them were sitting, looking scared, some of them were walking around, trying to find a way out. This didn't make any sense. Who were these people? I had never seen them before in my life. Some of them were around my age, some of them in their early to mid-twenties.

We were in some kind of large, wooden barn with two floors. A bunch of junk was piled into the corners, and a staircase led to the upper half. I could feel panic creeping into my chest.

"Jake!"

A familiar voice yelled out to me from across the room. I turned, and saw my little sister, Kira, running over to me, looking scared. Her face was red, almost as red as her frizzy red hair, and she was still in her blue pajamas from the night before. She had been crying. Kira was eleven, and by far was the youngest one in the group. While normally I couldn't stand to be around her at home, I immediately felt protective of her in this strange place.

"Jake, where are we?"

I gaped at her. "Kira...I don't...know..."

I looked around. A couple of the younger girls were pounding on the walls, yelling for someone to let us out. Two large, double doors lead out of the barn, but they were locked with a chain and a padlock. The only windows were much too high for anyone to reach, up near the high ceiling. I gritted my teeth, placing a hand on my little sister's shoulder to try and comfort her.

I approached a young, blonde girl about my age, who was standing in the middle of the room, her arms crossed in front of her, looking very tense. She was wearing a tank-top and sweatpants. By the look of it, all of us had been asleep when we were taken here.

"Hey...uh, I'm Jake. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

She frowned, and shook her head, holding her stiff position. "No. Honestly, none of us do. I'm Alex."

I nodded. Kira looked up at me, looking anxious and scared. I sighed, and looked around again.

"A couple of people tried going upstairs, but there's nothing up there except for a big crate of guns with no ammunition. The entire upstairs is completely empty except for that...I don't understand it."

"So we all ended up here...in some damn _barn_, with a crate of guns with no ammo, and no idea how we ended up here?"

She scowled, and closed her eyes, staying silent. She was shivering in the cold air, as she was only wearing a tanktop. I had fallen asleep in my jeans and t-shirt last night.

I noticed a handful of guys in their early twenties, and about two or three girls, run upstairs to where the guns were held. About a minute later, they came running back down again with several large guns in their hands. The rest of the crowd cautiously backed away. The group of people began hammering on the walls with the butts of the guns, as if trying to break them down. It was no use: the walls were too strong. Frustrated, the girl with light brown hair threw hers to the ground. After a moment, the rest of then gave up in frustration.

Alex gritted her teeth. The three of us sat down, since there wasn't anything else to do. Kira clung to my arm, looking around the room at the others anxiously.

Obviously, someone had kidnapped us. But, as scared as I was, I didn't understand _why. _We were all in our late teens and early twenties from the look of it. The only odd one out was Kira. She was the youngest.

Something was going to happen. Whoever brought us here had a purpose in mind. The thought terrified me, but I couldn't let my fear show in front of Kira.

That's when we all heard the voice. It was incredibly loud, as if over a loudspeaker.

_"Ahhh, you are all here now, yes? Good, good, _very _good!"_

There weren't any speakers in the room. The voice was loud, but it was incredibly high-pitched, and thickly accented in German. It would have been comical, had our situation not been reaching desperation. We all stood up, and many began shouting to be let out. It was no use. But where was it coming from? The voice surrounded us, making it impossible to find the source.

"_Ahahahahaha, oh, you all want to leave so soon. No worry, you'll all be out of here in good time! But first, you'll need a key for that door, won't you?"_

The room went dead silent.

"_Siiiiiince I feel like being _nice_, I don't think you will mind me telling you where the key is, no? It is in the the pocket of that young blonde girl. Have fun!"_

There were four blonde girls in the room. I saw the color drain from Alex's face, as she frantically looked around.

"Who has the key?!" one younger, black-haired boy demanded, who was about my age.

"Check in your pockets!"

"No!" I shouted, standing up. "Are we really gonna listen to this guy? Some psycho kidnaps us and we're just gonna _do what he says?_ Really?!"

"It doesn't matter," he snapped at me. "We need to get out of here. There's sixteen of us, and one of him."

"How do you know there's just one?" I demanded, getting angry now as Kira clung even more tightly to my arm. "How do you know this guy doesn't have other people with him? We can't take that risk!"

"Molly, check your pockets!" he said to the shorter blonde girl that was a little older than me. Her hands were trembling slightly. She reached into her pockets, but came out with nothing. The other girls checked as well, but came up empty.

"I-I have it," Alex said quietly, holding up a small, black key. Murmurs of suspicion and accusation flooded through the room.

He stalked over to the three of us, and tore the key from her grasp. I grabbed his arm as he made his way to the door.

"Don't do this. I told you, why the _hell_ would we listen to him? Who knows what's out there?"

"Get _off_ of me!" he snapped, yanking his arm out of my grip. I stood helpless as the boy walked over to the doors. He put the key into the padlock, fiddling with it until it unlocked, the chains that held the doors shut falling to the ground with a loud _clang! _that seemed so much louder now that everyone had gone dead silent.

"Jake, what's out there?" Kira whispered. My arm ached from her grabbing it so tightly, but I barely noticed it.

I shook my head as the boy faced the doors. "I don't know, Kira, but stay close to me."

She nodded. I don't think that was going to be a problem.

"_Ah, good! You've got the door open! Much smarter than what I originally thought. And here I was looking forward to a good fight. Oh well. Anyway, as I'm sure you'll notice soon enough, you are currently located on a farm, completely barred off and isolated from the rest of the world._

As the strange voice spoke, I noticed it was incredibly hot and muggy, a sharp contrast to the temperature inside, despite the fact that the sun was completely set. Large streetlights, almost like the ones ones you see at football games, loomed above us, creating a source of artificial light. Kira, trembling where she stood, looked around frantically in search for the source of the voice. Fog loomed in the air, giving the lights an eerie glow, and making it more difficult to see.

_"You will also notice that it is _quite_ dark outside. I'll let you all try and figure this little puzzle out. I'll explain the rules to this lovely little game later."_

Almost immediately, our group went frantic, yelling and shouting. It was chaos. As we stepped outside the barn, I saw a small house about a football field's length away. I was immediately thankful the guns that the older ones of our group had weren't loaded. The black-haired boy was yelling like crazy, unsuccessfully trying to get everybody to calm down. I grabbed Kira's arm, yanking her towards the house in case violence were to break out.

Panting, I dragged her through the doors and into the tiny living room which seemed to make up the entire first floor.

"Look," I told her, looking out the window to make sure no one was coming, "I'm gonna get you out of here."

I motioned for her to follow me upstairs, which I found was equally as tiny. Instead of a living room, we found ourselves in a small bedroom, with two glass doors leading out to a balcony. As we cautiously entered the room, I noticed a small, black crate sitting just outside the glass doors, filled to the top with something I couldn't quite identify. As I stepped outside, feeling the muggy, hot air, I saw that it was filled with weapon ammunition. I froze in place, thinking of the unloaded guns back at the barn. I could see the others gathered back near the barn entrance, seemingly unaware that Kira and I were gone.

"What's that?" Kira asked, pointing at the crate. I didn't answer, only stared straight ahead in terror as I realized what the voice that seemed to come from nowhere had in store. Did he plan to make us fight to the death? Why was the ammunition in one place, and the guns in the other?

No sooner had the thought left my head that the high-pitched, German voice sounded yet again, all around us, yet coming from nowhere that I could identify. Kira froze in place behind me, and from across the grass, I could see the others had stopped to listen.

"_Well it seems as if our little friends have found the ammunition box! Good, good, _very _good, we will be able to start the game very shortly! Now, perhaps it is finally time to let the game begin, no? For those of you who do not know, if you turn a bit to your right...yes, yes that's it...you'll see your little friend and his sister standing on the balcony of the house. That is where your ammunition is. Trust me...you will need it."_

Then he _laughed_, but it was unlike any laugh I had ever heard...it was an awful, shrieking cackle that pounded against our eardrums in short bursts, leaving me almost completely immobile. I saw Kira, crouched in a tight ball, screaming and covering her ears against the horrible laugh, and I too grabbed at my ears in attempt to fight it off. It was the most terrible sound I had ever heard in my entire life. It was then I knew what we were dealing with was not human- it couldn't be. Nothing _human_ could ever make a sound like that. Before we knew it, the assault was over replaced by a silence that was somehow even more terrifying. I yanked Kira to her feet and hurried back over to the group, who were all shaking and looking just as terrified as we were. Several of them still clutched their unloaded weapons in their hands, everything from pistols to automatic machine guns. I doubted any of them even knew how to work a gun...I sure as hell knew I didn't.

I didn't know what game this psychopath was intending to force on us, and it was making me more sick with worry by the second. I quickly realized there was no possible way out of the farm- fences that were thirty meters high, with barbed wire at the top, lined the farm, completely closing it in aside from a few openings that were boarded off with planks of wood.

"_This game will involve teamwork, so I hope that you've all grown to like each other. You will be working together in a fight against my army of the undead...or, as some of you children might know as _zombies._ Whoever is left alive after one hour will be the winners and will get to take part in the glorious experiment I have planned for you in the near future. The game will start in exactly one minute."_

We all looked at one another in confusion.

No one said a word, not even Kira who was trembling from head to toe in terror. None of us dared to believe the voice that came from nowhere.

_The undead the undead what does he mean by the undead-_

"_Good luck!"_

A strange, hissing sound filled the air, as if steam were being released. It was still too dark and foggy to make out anything from far away, despite the large overhead lights. As the hissing sound faded away, I was able to make out a sort of scratching, tearing sound, as if something were trying to grab at pieces of wood. Those of us who had guns gripped them tightly, murmuring amongst one another and looking around to try and find the source of the odd sound.

Barely fifteen seconds had passed before a horrible, high-pitched shriek filled the air. However, it was not the voice of the strange German man we had heard before. This sounded much more animalistic, almost like it were in pain. I heard Alex give a shriek of surprise from behind me as the sound grew closer.

Almost suddenly, a human-like figure came running out of the fog from our left, where the high fences that bordered the farm stood. It didn't walk, however- it _ran_, if that was even the right term. It's head hung loosely from it's shoulders, and it looked as if it were limping even though it was approaching us at a terrifyingly quick speed. It's arms were limp at it's sides, and I quickly realized that whatever the thing was, it was _not_ human. Before I could even cry out in warning, it emerged from the fog and launched itself at us, immediately attacking the loud-mouthed black-haired boy from before. Everything happened very quickly after that.

The thing definitely _wasn't_ human, at least not like any human I'd ever seen. It's skin was rotted and decaying, and it's clothes hung in tatters. The creature didn't even have any eyes- just dark sockets where it's eyes used to be. As soon as it reached the boy, the group broke out into a scream as it began to tear at his skin. The boy howled in pain, kicking and thrashing as the creature bit into his shoulder like a starving animal. My scream was caught in my throat- I could barely breathe.

I was vaguely aware of the rest of the group making a desperate sprint away from the creature as I broke out of my horrified paralysis. My brain could barely register what I had just seen- I didn't even know that boy's _name_ and I had just watched him get eaten alive right in front of me. The creature wasted no time- it tore hungrily into the boy's skin with it's teeth, seemingly oblivious to his screams and desperate thrashes to shake it off. I mechanically grabbed Kira and sprinted away from the bloody sight. dragging her behind me as fast as we both could go. Whatever that thing was, I knew it would come for us next. Panicked, I desperately made way for the house that Kira and I were at before, seeing that many others from the group were also fleeing to safety here as well.

In all, one boy and two other girls, one of them being Alex who looked deathly pale, had made it inside the house. The others had either fled deeper into the barn, or elsewhere on the farm. The two girls were hysterical, crying and screaming and pointing out the window as the creature finished the boy off. To my horror, I saw the creature chase down the short, blonde-haired girl named Molly and finish her off in a similar manner. Even from inside the house, I could hear her agonized cries and the creatures shrieking wail. I pulled Kira away from the window, catching Alex's eye. She looked about as terrified as I felt.

Two machine guns and a pistol had made it into the house. This was all we had against whatever that thing was out there, and I could only imagine that there would be more.

"J-Jake," Alex stammered, trying to steady her breathing. "We need ammo- for the guns, that- that _thing _just-"

"I know," I responded, watching as Kira slid down the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. I desperately looked around the room, but nobody seemed to be in a stable state of mind. At least, not enough to actually get anything done. I grabbed the pistol and ran up to the balcony where the ammunition crate was stored. Having almost no idea how to work the empty gun in my hands,, I fumbled with the gun until I managed to slide the ammunition cartridge in, fully loading the gun. I stared at it for a moment, having no idea what I was supposed to do next.

Just as I was about to run downstairs, another piercing scream split the air. Gripping the gun tightly, I ran downstairs to find _three_ of those monsters pounding and shattering the glass on the windows where our small group was hiding. By the time I reached the bottom, the creatures had already broken the glass and were reaching their rotting arms into the tiny living room. Acting on pure adrenaline, I held the pistol up and frantically began firing shots as quickly as I could. Most of the bullets didn't land- but after using an entire round, the three of them fell back away from the window and didn't get back up. Shaking violently, I ordered everyone else to fill their guns with ammo.

Alex looked at me, scared and pale-faced.

"Jake, I c-can't fire-"

"_Go!"_ I shouted. They immediately did as I said, jumping up to run upstairs. It immediately dawned on me the position I had placed upon myself just then. These guys were going to depend on me now. Me, who was just as panicked as they were. Just as confused, and terrified. Kira didn't say a word. I knew she was my first priority- I had to keep her safe.

I heard more of the hellish screeches in the distance, some of them getting closer. My heart pounding with fear, I ran to the windows and saw a small swarm of them stumbling and dragging themselves towards the house. How they knew we were in here, I had no idea. As they grew closer, I fired blindly into the crowd, hearing footsteps coming down the stairs as the rest came down with their loaded guns.

Alex and the one boy attempted to help me, but it was nothing but chaos. They couldn't aim, couldn't fire correctly, and God knew neither could I. We barely made a dent in the crowd. Looking around, I saw that it was hopeless. It was time to move. I dropped my pistol, yanking Kira to her feet as the yells and moaning grew closer and louder, and soon it was all I could hear. Forgetting the others, I dragged her out the back door of the house. I swore I could hear Alex shout my name, but even if she had, I barely heard. But I did hear the agonized screams, coming not just from the house, but from around the farm as more and more of the creatures emerged and picked everyone off one by one. It was pure hell, and I was at a complete loss for a solution.

We ran up a small path in between a bunch of trees behind the house, hoping to find refuge. I only realized now how stupid it was of me to drop that pistol. Panic-stricken, I desperately searched for a place to hide, finding almost none. The trees were not suitable to climb, and only broken pieces of wood and debris lay scattered around the small field. A bit further down, I spotted a tiny warehouse. It was our best bet, and since this place was empty of the monsters, it was our only hope. I scanned the area desperately in search of anybody else that might have fled here, but found nothing.

Running along the high fence border, I kept the warehouse in sight. Kira still said nothing. Only the sound of her heavy breathing let me know she was still able to keep moving, our feet pounding against the ground. As we ran, I was aware that the farm had suddenly grown very quiet, the screams and sounds of panic slowly dying into silence. I don't know which was scarier to me, the sound of the screams, or the silence of our numbers dwindling one by one.

We finally reached the warehouse doors, pausing for a moment to catch our breath. I looked behind me. I couldn't see any movement, but I did hear the shrieks and cries of the monsters from the other side of the farm growing closer. My plan was to hide inside the warehouse for however long we needed to until those things went away, even if it took days. Kira, hearing the noise as well, whimpered with fear, scrambling over to the warehouse doors and swiftly yanking them open.

No sooner had the door creaked open did I hear another hellish moan, this one coming directly from behind me. I whirled around in panic, but it was too late. A creature unlike I had seen before, this one crawling on four limbs, and stank of infection and rot. It had no eyes, or even eye-sockets- just a blank face with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. I couldn't see it clearly, but it was easily the most disgusting thing I had ever seen in my entire life. It stood directly inside the warehouse, not three feet from where my sister was standing. Before I could make a move in her direction, the thing lunged itself at her, tackling her to the ground with a loud, gurgling screech. As soon as it had her pinned, it began ripping into her jugular, sending a fountain of blood splashing into it's face.

Her throat had been torn out, and now it was moving onto her shoulders.

I felt as if something had hit me in the back of the head. I couldn't breathe, couldn't cry out. My stomach was contracting to the point of unbearable pain, but I could barely feel it. I tried to stumble towards her in a useless, desperate attempt to save her, whose body was being torn apart right before my eyes, but I tripped over my unresponsive feet, laying face-down into the grass. Sometime later, whether it be hours or seconds or minutes, I heard a loud thump beside me, the sound of my little sister's mutilated body crumpling to the ground.

I shook violently on the ground, unable to control my muscle spasms as dirt filled my mouth. Somewhere, a loud, high voice was laughing maniacally, but I could barely hear it. Time passed, and still I chose not to move, not to stand up and look at the ruined body of what used to be my little sister. The farm was silent.

As I slowly came to my senses, the voice returned, speaking only two words, dripping with sadistic joy…

"_Game over!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: The rating has been moved from M to T for now, since I don't believe it is going to become really graphic any time soon, violence wise. I'd like to just say that this will be a crossover story- Modern Warfare and Black Ops 2. I had so much fun writing my first story, that I felt as if I had to continue it! Just another reminder, this *can* be read alone if you have not read my previous story. Enjoy!**

On the Job (Through the POV of Captain Petral Levark, age 31)

Perhaps I'm used to hard work, having been an army doctor back when I lived a stable life in America. But still, I have to ask myself what was truly harder- killing Vladimir Makarov with my fiancee, Captain John Price, or going through official British Task Force training?

I thought I had seen it all. Clearly I hadn't.

While I had military experience back in America, killing Vladimir Makarov was something that I had never intended to happen. I was fighting on the American front in Afghanistan, trying to tend to dying patients in the broken-down hospital as bombs rained down around me. As the building collapsed, I was saved by three men- three men who ultimately changed my life.

And yes, while it was me who was able to take Makarov down in the end, I still consider John Price to be the true hero of my story that I've kept to myself since the trigger was pulled. I wasn't the one who pulled it, but as he keeps reminding me, I was the only reason he died in the first place. I don't like thinking about the details- about how Yuri looked when he was shot three times in the head by Makarov, or how Captain MacTavish looked when he fell limp on the table in front of us while I watched helplessly. But it was behind us now. We won at the price of losing two good men, and countless others before I joined the team.

But in order for me to continue working with the Task Force, which with all I had been through in the past, I believed it wasn't an option, I had to go through training. In a class of thirty men and only one other woman besides myself, I nearly didn't make it.

But I pulled through. I did learn that, while I enjoyed hiking when I was younger with my mother and father, I most certainly did not enjoy it while having to complete a forty-mile hike in under twenty hours up and down steep mountain terrain. That was probably the most challenging part of my training course- I had broken my ankle tripping down a steeper part of the hill and had to continue another eight miles. It was torturous, and the group had to leave me behind. I still made it- with five minutes to spare.

But among endless weeks of training, I somehow pulled through and became an official member of the Task Force 141. While news of Vladimir Makarov's assassination swept across the world, our names went unmentioned, to my relief. While media influence continued to grow with each passing year, I was glad that the soldiers were at least given the respect of privacy. We didn't want attention, and we didn't want our names known.

But despite it all, we were proud of our work. And I was able to find the love of my life along the way, which was something I could say was a proper accomplishment in itself. That was another thing John and I fought to keep as quiet as possible- we knew it would only cause problems within the team if it were to spread. We discussed plans of marriage quietly, and we knew that if we were to get married, it was to be a very small, private service. As leaders of the newly formed team, we knew that professionalism came first. And I especially would be given a higher expectation, being a woman leading an elite Task Force that, until within the last five years, was reserved strictly for men.

But as months passed, the Task Force was rebuilt. But the tiredness on John's face never seemed to fade. He was determined and strong as ever, and more than eager to rebuild his fallen team with fresh warriors, but I couldn't deny the fact that he was growing weary of leading. He had watched far too many men die- that much I knew, even though he never had to come outright and tell me. And I think it grows on you after a while. Perhaps I would experience a similar experience once I reached his level of experience.

I always put my team before anything, however I made sure that while the months turned into a year, and a year into two, I stood by him both physically and emotionally.

He didn't let on much, but I know he appreciated it.

And we could both agree that ordering around the FNGs was fun. I thought of that as our bonding time.

With World War III over, we didn't have anything major to worry about. Being on the Task Force, there were always levels of stress surrounding you. You were always on-duty, no matter what. But that was the kind of stress you got used to quickly. Without any major wars going on, we weren't concerned with losing soldiers, or going on any missions that would mean certain death. For a period of about six months, staying in-shape was our biggest concern- along with smaller missions that our team and I were assigned to.

I never considered going back home to America. It held too many unpleasant memories that I would much rather prefer to keep buried. When the Russians attacked New York City in the midst of World War III, my home for nearly my entire childhood, they took everything- including the lives of my parents. I had no intention of ever going back, if I could help it. Still, I felt as if it were inevitable.

But now, stationed at a military base in Wales, I began to think that perhaps the world was done fighting. At least for a little while.

As I made my way into my daily gym visit (Wales by far was my favorite place to be stationed at- it had a gym right on the base), I noticed a couple other of the younger men, boys, really, occupying a couple of the weight-lifting machines. I nodded to them in greeting, planning on just making a couple repetitions on the bench-press, when somebody shouted my name.

"Captain Levark! Captain Levark?"

I looked up, frowning a bit as Second Lieutenant Mark Johnson came hurrying into the gym. He was a bit of a hot-head, not exactly my favorite to work with. But he was honest enough.

"Yes?" I walked out of the gym into the hallway, still in my t-shirt and training shorts.

"A representative from Parliament is here to see you and Colonel Price."

I often forget how John had gone up in several ranks since the assassination. He was no longer "Captain Price", although it was rather difficult for me to get used to.

"Can you tell him I'll be with him shortly?"

He nodded, turning to hurry down the hallway again. I hurried to my bunker, changing into my proper uniform, and walking down into the meeting room where John and a man I did not recognize were already sitting.

"Hello, Captain Levark. My name is Anthony Cain," the man greeted me.

He stood up to shake my hand. I accepted it, giving him a small smile as I took a seat next to John. The man was in full business attire, and had placed a small black suitcase down on the table in front of us.

"Is that door locked?" he asked. I glanced behind me and nodded, curious as to why he bothered to ask.

"Good. Colonel Price, Captain Levark, I am here to discuss with you a special assignment that Parliament feels only members of the elite Task Force, such as yourselves, could accomplish...I believe a representative has come and spoken with you before, have they not?"

He was right. Months before, I had met with a man that had told me about a new, possible threat...something that involved what he explained as "the undead". It was almost too supernatural-sounding to believe, and I had almost put it out of my mind completely until now.

"Yes...a couple months before," I answered slowly. "But what he said sounded more like a story than something actually happening. And we waited for further word on it, but no one ever contacted us again."

He raised his eyebrows and nodded, looking carefully between John and myself.

"Yes...it does sound like a story indeed. And I assure you, Captain, there is good reason why this has been kept under the radar."

Looking a bit anxious, he unlocked his briefcase and pulled out several photographs and several pieces of paper that looked old and yellowed, just as the man several months ago had. He pushed the photographs at us. Some of them were black and white, very, very old-looking, and some of them looked very modern.

The modern ones showed horrifying images, and I nearly gasped aloud. They were creatures- almost human-like in their stance and figure, but whatever they were was definitely not human. They were decayed, rotted, almost as if they had been dead for a long time. The photographs were blurry and unfocused, almost like the photographer had taken the photo in a hurry. The black and white ones were equally as disturbing. People in testing labs, people with looks of pure agony upon their faces.

John too looked disgusted, almost more irritated than disturbed. I looked up at Cain who sighed.

"I too had the same reaction...you see, this is an issue that had apparently taken root dating back to Nazi Germany, which I'm sure you've already heard about. These _things_, these _test subjects_ grew out of hand...but somehow, the government managed to keep it quiet. Somehow, somebody got ahold of the recipe that created these creatures...some group, some organization. We're seeing the same creatures with the same chemical makeup attacking people _now. _Parliament can't keep it quiet for much longer."

"What exactly are you asking us to do?" John asked, trying to get down to the point.

"We're looking for intel," he explained. "CIA agents back in the states are performing an investigation of their own, seeing as many outbreaks have been occurring within the past year and a half. We feel like we need the UK on the job as well. I have been told that the Task Force 141 is the best for this type of assignment.."

"You mean outbreaks as in people have already died? People have already gotten attacked?" I asked slowly.

Cain nodded. "Only in very rural areas. But we have very little intel. If this gets released into the media, it will cause total panic and we cannot have that."

"So you're keeping everybody blind." I said shortly, feeling myself getting angrier by the second.

"Not blind, just-"

"People are _dying_ and you're not even going to cause for an evacuation?!" I demanded, standing up in my seat. "You'd rather let people _die_ and just _wait around _until we solve the problem instead of keeping innocent people safe as your first priority?!"

I was hyper-aware of John's eyes on me.

"If we release this into the public, _Captain_, it will only cause widespread panic. More people will be hurt than saved."

"You don't know that," I growled.

"And neither do you, Captain! Although you may not realize it, we are trying to find a solution to the problem here!"

"By using us as your test dogs?" I demanded. I noted that John made no move to silence me. "You're just going to send us out, searching for intel, and hope that all goes well?"

Cain looked flustered. "Yes, that is exactly what we are doing. You are lucky that we are giving you the option to do this in the first place. This isn't an order- this is a desperate request."

John spoke up. "We'll do your bloody work, Cain, but we're gonna need more information. Locations, dates, transport. You can't just expect us to throw ourselves out there with little to go on."

"That's exactly what I wanted to show you next."

He pushed the old documents in front of us. They were short, but their information was astounding:

_October 9th, 1941_

_Doctor Ludvig Maxis_

_Test chamber #5_

_Test subject eight-zero-eight has responded typically to treatment. While the decay of the skin is swift, decay of the mind took 7 days, as opposed to eight-zero-seven's 5 and a half days._

_Was put down at 13:44_

_Typical one-ounce dose of Element 115 was given_

_Double amount of Xenopsylla Cheopis was given- improved decay rate_

_Ferritin amounts are at a high level_

_NOTE: Doctor Richtofen continues to show signs of instability_

I looked up at Cain, a bit bewildered.

"So these...these test subjects got out of hand?"

He nodded grimly. "Yes. And somehow it is occurring yet again. Our field agent was supposed to gain more evidence- he managed to send these photographs that he found, and these ones that he managed to take back to us from his sanction over in Berlin, but we have not heard from him since...that was nine months ago."

Xenopsylla Cheopis...that was the rat-flea, infamous for causing the massive epidemic hundreds of years ago known as the Black Plague. Did they really use something as horrible as that on innocent people?

Of course they did. This was Nazi Germany.

"The creatures looked horribly decayed...was the Xenopsylla Cheopis used to decay their skin? Otherwise it would just kill them, wouldn't it?"

"That's what we were thinking," he replied. "However, something gives these creatures their super-human strength. As mentioned in several of the documents, element 115, which is Unupetium on the periodic table, was used to cause their nervous system to go rapid."

"So you just want us to gather intel on who's behind this?" John asked, growing impatient.

"Yes. We'll take it from there."

He nodded, glancing at me. I gave him a tiny smile of reassurance, even though he probably did not need it, I knew he appreciated it.

Cain spoke again.

"We will need you to go into Berlin- that's where the origins of this entire project took place. Our specialists have already managed to gather documents from there but were unable to stay. Keep in mind this could be a dangerous mission. Exact coordinates and location spots will be given shortly. Another key location is the _Salyut 1, _the first space station in Russia that has been long-abandoned for quite a few years now. We will give more information as needed."

We both nodded in understanding.

He looked at us both. "There is still...a danger present. These locations are...unknown as to whether or not they are infested with the creatures. But usual weaponry should prove to be fine, unless otherwise requested."

"Good," John said calmly. Cain stood up, still appearing somewhat anxious.

"As much as we need this mission done, it is requested that you do not bring your entire regiment...we're looking to keep this as quiet as possible. I'm sure you understand. In return, the government would be willing to make any changes or accommodations to the Task Force if so requested."

I didn't like the sound of it, and I knew John didn't either. But, we nodded in understanding.

"Thank you for meeting with me today, Colonel Price, Captain Levark. We will keep in touch."

We thanked him, a bit grudgingly if anything, and he left without another word. I sighed and turned to look at John, and he just seemed very, very tired.

"You up for this, old man?" I chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"I don't like the sound of this. There's no bloody way the government could have kept something this secret for so long, especially if it dated all the way back to World War II. I'm gonna contact MacMillan on this and see what he says- he's due to retire soon, but I trust the old man's judgement on this kind of thing."

I nodded, remembering the brief time that we had talked with MacMillan, also known as "Baseplate", right after Captain MacTavish died. John had seen a lot of death in his time, but I knew Captain MacTavish's death had hit him hard. They had been partners- best friends, even, before I had ever met them. I caught myself thinking about Yuri, who had also been on the mission with us and had a history with Vladimir Makarov. He had been so kind to me near the end of his life…

Shaking the thought from my head, I followed John into the hallway and into his private office. He immediately grabbed his laptop- the same one that he often used during our endless weeks on the chopper- and immediately began typing.

"I'm sending a request out to MacMillan."

I nodded. "What for?"

"I'm gonna ask if we can get special permission for this. Cain said Parliament wants only the best men for the job- so I'm gonna give 'em the best we've got. I want Nikolai with us. Things are beginning to quiet down over in Russia. Nikolai is probably getting bored."

Nikolai was our pilot, and an excellent source of support back when we were tracking down Makarov. As a member of the Loyalist Russians, he gave us crucial support that we needed on our mission. Many times, if it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't be alive.

"Sounds good. You think he'd be ready for another death-mission?" I said, half-jokingly.

"As far as we know, this is only for intel and surveillance. We shouldn't have to be rainin' any bombs on anyone. Can't say I'd be too disappointed if it came to that anyway."

I chuckled. "Sounds like a plan. Do you want me to start making an announcement?"

"No. Do it quietly...pick out our top ten, and make sure Johnson is on that list."

I groaned inwardly. "Johnson is a loudmouth with no respect for anyone but himself."

"Then I'll beat the respect into him until that kid is bleeding from his ears."

"I'll hold you to that then."

He snickered and looked at me, giving me a rare, small smile. Standing up, he placed a small kiss on my cheek and left the office, a bit hurriedly, I noticed. He wasn't one for physical affection, at least not typically, but little things like that reassured me that he wasn't so cold after all.

I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and began scribbling down the names of the men that had proved themselves above the rest over the year and a half I had spent working with them. I'd review them over with John once I had narrowed it down to roughly ten or eleven.

It was time to get back on the job again, and to be honest, I couldn't be more excited.


End file.
